TY - JOUR

T1 - Danish wetlands remained poor with plant species 17-years after restoration

AU - Baumane, Marta

AU - Zak, Dominik Henrik

AU - Riis, Tenna

AU - Kotowski, Wiktor

AU - Hoffmann, Carl Christian

AU - Baattrup-Pedersen, Annette

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 Elsevier B.V.

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - For more than two decades, wetland restoration has been successfully applied in Denmark as a tool to protect watercourses from elevated nutrient inputs from agriculture, but little is known about how the flora and fauna respond to restoration. The main objective of this study was therefore to: (1) examine plant community characteristics in 10 wetland sites in the River Odense Kratholm catchment, restored between 2001 and 2011 by re-meandering the stream and disconnecting the tile drains, and (2) explore whether the effects of restoration on plant community characteristics change with the age of the restoration. Specifically, we hypothesised that plant community composition, species richness and diversity would improve with the age of the restoration and eventually approach the state of natural wetland vegetation. We found that the prevailing plant communities could be characterised as humid grasslands, moist fallow fields and improved grasslands, whereas the abundance of natural wetland plant communities (e.g., rich fens, fen-sedge beds and humid grasslands) was lower in both the recently restored as well as in older restored wetlands. Additionally, species richness and diversity did not seem to improve with the age of the restoration. We suggest that the continued high nutrient input at the restored sites in combination with restricted dispersal of wetland plant species may hamper the recovery of natural plant communities and that the sites therefore may stay botanically poor for many decades.

AB - For more than two decades, wetland restoration has been successfully applied in Denmark as a tool to protect watercourses from elevated nutrient inputs from agriculture, but little is known about how the flora and fauna respond to restoration. The main objective of this study was therefore to: (1) examine plant community characteristics in 10 wetland sites in the River Odense Kratholm catchment, restored between 2001 and 2011 by re-meandering the stream and disconnecting the tile drains, and (2) explore whether the effects of restoration on plant community characteristics change with the age of the restoration. Specifically, we hypothesised that plant community composition, species richness and diversity would improve with the age of the restoration and eventually approach the state of natural wetland vegetation. We found that the prevailing plant communities could be characterised as humid grasslands, moist fallow fields and improved grasslands, whereas the abundance of natural wetland plant communities (e.g., rich fens, fen-sedge beds and humid grasslands) was lower in both the recently restored as well as in older restored wetlands. Additionally, species richness and diversity did not seem to improve with the age of the restoration. We suggest that the continued high nutrient input at the restored sites in combination with restricted dispersal of wetland plant species may hamper the recovery of natural plant communities and that the sites therefore may stay botanically poor for many decades.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Plant communities

KW - Plant dispersal

KW - Species diversity

KW - Species richness

KW - Wetland age

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149146

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149146

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 34332389

AN - SCOPUS:85111307214

VL - 798

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

M1 - 149146

ER -